Is True Love once in a Lifetime?
by laharvey125
Summary: This is actually based on a dream I had one night. This is a story about a man learning about the meaning of true love and balancing that with his mysterious family business...


Some say that true love comes once in a lifetime. I had believed that with all my heart and soul. I had always been somewhat of an awkward youth, tripping over my words or even literally. I had loved Brielle Adams long before she even knew I existed. But we were worlds apart socially. She was a science geek and I was a jock. I first met her during science class; we were lab partners. Though I would never admit it to my friends, or anyone else for that matter, I loved science. Everything precise and logical; everything could be explained. Perhaps it was the only world that really made sense. Though she never said it, she seemed to understand my hidden passion for it because she never explained or talked down to me while we worked together. Some say that brains and beauty don't mix, but she was an Aphrodite in glasses. She would always twirl her auburn curls around her finger whenever she was thinking. Oh how I wanted to touch it.

I'd like to say that I finally worked up the courage to ask her out, but I never did. I greatly enjoyed my popularity and teammates. I was afraid to lose them, as selfish as that sounds. I graduated one of the top ten in our class and she was valedictorian. I hung on her every word as she gave her speech, but I honestly don't remember anything she said. Well I decided to give Harvard College a try, my old man was very persistent. He thought it would come in handy for the family business…whatever it is. He said he'd tell me about when I was ready. I figured I'd give Harvard a year than transfer somewhere else. While I was home visiting friends and family, I went to eat at Craigos Pizza with some friends. We were joking around, just having a grand old time when one of my friends whispered, "Hey, isn't that Brielle the Brain over there? She's sure changed, what a hottie!"

I turned and looked. I would never have thought it, but she was even more beautiful than I remembered. She was sitting in the booth alone, nibbling on a calzone. Without considering what my friends would think, I immediately got up and walked up to her. As I got closer, I noticed that she had tears in her eyes. I would have walked away, but right then she looked up at me surprised.

"H-hi Brielle, what's up?" It sounded so lame! Here she was on the brink of tears and I ask what's up?!

She just stared at me.

"Remember me? I'm Tristan Matthews, we were---"

"Lab partners in Chemistry 203, I remember," She hurriedly wiped her eyes. "Sorry Tristan, I'm just not myself today."

"Is something wrong?" I asked as I sat across from her.

"Yeah, my fiancé dumped me. I'm not really sure why."

While I was secretly glad she was still available, I had a strange desire to throttle the punk for dumping the best thing in his life. I also realized that there was no way I could ask her out without coming off as an insensitive jerk. "I'm sorry to hear about that, let me know if you need me." That must have come off wrong because she stared at me again. I tried again, "You know, if you want to talk or get your mind off things, you know…"

Again with the stare. Thankfully my friends called me back, so I hurriedly said goodbye and left. I basically spent the whole day just beating myself up knowing what a fool I made of myself! So I was really surprised when she called me the next day.

"Hey Tristan, its Brielle, I was wondering if I could take you up on your offer. I could use a good listener."

And it snow balled from there and a year later we were married and had Craigos cater at our reception. Those were some of the best years of my life. And as corny as it sounds, it was like a dream that never ended. But with all dreams, they eventually come to an end. She went to get her yearly physical and was diagnosed with some unique but deadly form of cancer that was beyond getting treatment. I should have seen the signs, but bliss makes you blind. She died within six months. My world had shattered, I was at my lowest. It sure was an odd time for my dad to approach me and say, "Its time to introduce you to the family business."

And you'll never guess what it was, villainy. Honest to goodness, I had come from a family of super villains. I thought he was joking until he ripped open the door to the family safe with his bare hands. I wasn't sure what to say after that.

"We're not your run-of-the-mill cartoon villains," he said brushing steel bits off his hands. "We don't run around wreaking havoc on people, we just sabotage our competitors so our company remains number one."

I wondered how that wasn't considered wreaking havoc, but I didn't dare ask.

"Some ding-dongs from Cadence Incorp got their hands on one of our latest models. We need to steal it back before they put it into production. I'd be honored if you'd accompany me son."

He put a firm hand on my shoulder and squeezed it in such a way that I knew it was more of a demand than a question. That night we snuck in and dad gave me a pill, something to enhance my "innate abilities." Ok he is definitely high, I thought, but he turned out to be right. I could feel such strength ripple through me, I felt like I had expanded to Hulk-size, but I hadn't changed physically. Our mission was a complete success and after that I followed him on more missions. Sometimes we stole things back or just stole in general. You'd think my moral conscience would have kicked in, but I had never really been raised with any, which I guess was a good thing. Most of the time, our missions went well, but every now and again we were thwarted by some one. They wore a mask, so I never saw their face. We tried for years to stop them or expose them, but never could. I guess we could count our luck stars that they hadn't exposed us either. For years we were a dynamic team, but eventually my dad passed away, reopening the wound and I mourned over Brielle once again. I thought I was meant to wander through this world alone, because true love happens once in a lifetime right?

Then I met Macy McCayle. She knocked on my door at 7am one Saturday with a plate of cookies. I answered the door with a bathrobe tied hastily around me, ready to kill the idiot crazy enough to ring the doorbell at that time of morning. My surprise at seeing her lessened my rage to simmering irritation.

"Oh my," she said with a nervous laugh. "I didn't mean to wake you. I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Macy McCayle, I just moved into the old Sanferd's place."

Now it was my turn to stare. I mean, what was I supposed to do? I was half asleep as it was and wondering if this was a dream. It had to be because what kind of nut would introduce themselves to a stranger this early in the morning?

"I made you fresh snicker doodles, they're my favorite." She handed me the plate of hot cookies. "I hope you have a great day mister…"

"Matthews, Tristan Matthews."

She smiled widely. "Good day Mr. Matthews."

And with that she nearly bounced off the step and down the block. I just stared after her and eventually closed the door and put the cookies on the table and went back to bed. I thought it had been a dream until I saw those cookies. I gave one a try, it was mouth-wateringly delicious! Just like the kind my mom used to make. Macy would every now and again come over just to talk. Turns out she was a fan of gardening, I should have known though. She was such a hippie, but she was beautiful in her own way. I had never been a big fan of gardening, but Brielle had started such a beautiful garden I couldn't let it go to waste. It was one of the last things I had to remind me of her. I was beginning to get discouraged with it because it seemed that I was only making things worse. Macy had great gardening advice and with her help, Brielle's garden was flourishing. Macy was such an airhead, always chatting about the oddest things and not really noticing that I rarely responded. I was caught off guard one day when she asked where my wife was.

"What are you talking about?" I asked dumbfounded.

"Well you're wearing a wedding band, so I assumed you're married," she said pointing to my ring finger.

And she was right, I still had on my wedding band. I had forgotten about it, so weird since she had passed away nearly ten years ago. Was it really that long ago? I twisted it around nervously. "Actually, my wife passed away, some time ago. I guess I should take it off…"

I was starting to pull it off when Macy unexpectedly put her hand on mine. She smiled gently, an expression I hadn't seen before, she's always seemed so carefree. "Don't take it off until you're ready. There's no need to rush."

I didn't mean to stare again, but I didn't know what to say. Everyone I knew said "it was time to move on, Brielle would have wanted it", that kind of thing. But here was the first person to tell me that it was ok to still mourn, that there was no shame in it. I smiled back in spite of myself. I didn't realize it then, but she was beginning to creep into my hardened heart, slowly melting the ice surrounding it. We had always talked over the fence, but eventually I invited her to see the garden more closely and eventually invited her over for dinner, making sure to bake snicker doodles for dessert. And once again it snowballed from there into love. I couldn't believe it, but true love can happen twice in a lifetime. The day I removed my wedding band was the day I went to the jewelers to look at diamonds. I found the perfect one, purchased it, and made reservations at our favorite restaurant for dinner, and picked up some roses on the way home. I called Macy up to ask her out to dinner to celebrate our two year anniversary, she had some plans with a tofu-awareness club in town, but should be available at six o'clock. I was getting ready when I received a call on my cell phone, the one used only for business.

"The Sneak has been spotted at the warehouse by the docks, you'd better get your butt on over there," a voice hissed over the phone.

"Ask someone else to do it, I already asked for the night off. I've got big plans."

"Well they'll have to wait, because you're the only one available!"

I glanced at the clock, I had two hours until I saw Macy. "All right," I sighed. "I'll do it quickly."

I quickly changed into my "super villain costume" which was basically black leather pants, a black turtle-neck sweater, and a utility belt that rivaled Batman's. Sometimes I was tempted to make a cape for it, but we're supposed to be "professional." Which was pretty silly since, when were villains professional? I hurried over to the warehouse. I parked my car in a neighboring alleyway and pulled on my ski mask which was also black. I saw a shadow dark under the one working light outside the front of the warehouse and hurried over. Yep, it was The Sneak alright, the slippery hero that had thwarted us all these years. I couldn't figure out why my family was mad that someone else was doing what we do, it seemed very hypocritical. I told myself that this was my last mission, because after this I would marry Macy and she deserves a respectable husband.

The Sneak had already slipped in and disabled the laser systems. There didn't seem to be a security system that he couldn't sneak around, hence the nickname. It was growing dark, I had to hurry if I wanted to make it on time. I figured The Sneak would be after our nuclear power cells, they generated power for most of our equipment. Losing those would be a massive blow. They were located in the back, so I kept to the shadows as I made my way there. Soon enough, I saw The Sneak knelt over a crate stuffing the power cells into his satchel. He seemed to be in a hurry because he didn't even heard me come up behind him. I lassoed my grappling hook around him and yanked him back. He hit the floor hard and still tried to free himself, which was useless since his hands were bound to his sides. Though I was in a hurry myself, I couldn't help but gloat. Surely now the family business could get along quite well without me.

"Well, well, well," I purred as I started my approach. "Not so sneaky now huh?"

He tried to struggle away but I held firmly on the rope.

"You'll come to justice one of these days, even if you turn me in." He had one of those silly robotic sounding voice changers. A lot of my family used them too, but I wouldn't be caught dead with one.

I knelt beside him and chuckled. "I'll turn you in soon enough, but first, indulge my curiosity for a moment."

I ripped off his ski mask and was surprised to see that he was a she. And not just any girl, but my beloved Macy. My breath caught in my throat and I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. How could this be? I must be seeing things, the eye holes in the mask were screened for protection. It was getting darker outside so it was a little hard to see. I probably shouldn't have taken mine off, but I had to know if it was Macy or not.

It was.

She gasped. "Trist? Tristan is that really you?"

I couldn't say a word, I involuntarily dropped the rope and stepped back. She was staring at me, unaware of her freedom. I couldn't have been more surprised and heartbroken. It was like losing my Brielle and dad all over again, with no hope of recovery. Having true love twice was a miracle, but I doubted it could happen again. I guess I should have been happy to learn the truth before marrying her, but happiness was far from my thoughts. I was doomed to be alone now, that much was certain.

The rope, no longer taunt, fell down around her. It looked like she had tears in her eyes. It was hard to tell because I has some in my own eyes. She reached out one hand to me pleadingly, "Trist?"

I had had enough of this, I turned on my heels and started to run.

"Trist wait!" I felt her slam into my back, her arms wrapped around my chest. I was too numb to break free. I could feel her tears soak my turtleneck. "Oh Trist! I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you. If I did I would never have---"

I whirled around and pulled her arms off me and held them firmly. I was so angry at her innocence like her apology really made anything better. She flinched under my intense grip. "Please Tristan, it doesn't have to be this way, we could still make this work…"

"And how do you propose we do that huh?" I shook her. "Like enemies could ever be---" I trailed off, I wasn't sure how to end that sentence.

She gripped my arms in turn and stopped me shaking her. I had never realized just how strong she was too. She had always been so soft and gentle in my arms. Her tears continued to flow freely. "I'm not really sure myself. But I do know this Trist," she stepped closer to me. "I love you. I really do. And I'd do anything to be with you."

She gave me a soft kiss. Even with all her equipment and camouflage, she smelled like daffodils. I wanted to still be angry, but she had always had a calming effect on me. I pulled her into my embrace and kissed her back, tears flowing down my face too. Even though she knew the truth, it didn't matter; she still wanted to be with me. I wasn't sure how we'd work things out either, but this much was certain. I loved her too and would do anything to be with her.


End file.
